"Sora and Stahl were really nice, don't you think?" Zelda asked as they walked to their English class.
Link nodded, more worried about class. He was never that good academically. And besides, weren't they trying to save the world? Who cared if they could write a paper?
"Oh, and Namine! She was quiet, but sweet, you know?"
"Mhm." Honestly, he thought she was sweet too. Besides, it was always nice to find another artist, you know?
"Anyway, I think this is Ms. Shephard's room." Zelda walked in, and Link followed her in.
The woman standing up front seemed to be some goat lady. Honestly, he wasn't even fazed. The desks were arranged in groups of four, and Zelda had already sat down with a goat boy - possibly Ms. Shephard's son? The fourth seat was empty.
"Oh, uh, howdy guys." The goat boy said, a slight southern accent permeating his voice.
Zelda smiled. "Howdy! I'm Zelda, and this is Link. What's your name?"
"Asriel Shephard." The boy reached out a paw, but quickly retracted it upon noticing that it was, in fact, a paw.
"Oh, then is Ms. Shephard your mom?"
Asriel looked up at the woman, who was drawing a large snail on the board. "Yeah, but… she doesn't look like it anymore."
Link gave a sympathetic look. Yeah, that would suck.
Zelda reached out her hand. "It must be rough, yeah?"
"Yeah. Feeling yourself become a real-life furry is… definitely weird. Seeing your mom as one is even weirder." And in that moment, Link realized that there were people who'd be very excited to be like Asriel.
Fucking furries.
A moment later, a red shark boy walked in. Sidon. Fuck, he was hot in person too.
And, because of course he did, he sat at their table, filling the last desk. "Hey, guys, how are you?" He didn't seem at all phased that he was a fish, instead just grinning like nothing weird was happening.
Link just shrugged. Zelda said she was doing pretty okay, all things considered. Asriel stayed silent.
"Come on, it's just until we leave school. It's like a big costume party!" Sidon grinned. "Oh, and you two are Link and Zelda, right? Said I know you in the tablet thing. I'm Sidon Sturgeon, by the way!"
"Yes, that's us. I'm glad to finally meet you." Zelda extended her hand, and he shook it enthusiastically.
"You know, I pictured you with a British accent. Huh." Sidon's grin seemed to never fade. "And according to your entry, you don't talk much, Link, so I never came up with a voice for you."
"Well, now you have one." Link tried not to sound smug.
"And you, I don't know you. What's your name?" Sidon turned to Asriel.
"Oh, howdy, I'm Asriel." He smiled a little.
"Nice to meet you!" He grinned.
After a couple moments of chatting (mostly between Zelda and Sidon, but Asriel joined in too), Ms. Shephard called attention to the class. "Welcome, students! My name is Toriel Shephard, but you can just call me Toriel. Or Ms. Shephard, or whatever you like, so long as it's kind."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"So, let me tell you about myself. I have four children who all go here, one of them is even in here! Asriel, wave to everyone."
He gave a sheepish (or should he say, goatish) wave, and luckily, no one laughed.
"I enjoy reading, raising snails, knitting, baking, and teaching. If I could have taught a cooking class, I would have, but I suppose English is more important. Just because we're focused on saving the world doesn't mean we shouldn't be prepared for our lives afterwards, after all."
Like hell if Link was going to stay on Earth. He had no one here, no reason to be prepared for living in this hell longer than a few months.
"And while I'm an English teacher, I also want to help you grow as people. Even after you leave here, no matter where you go, I want you all to promise to be good." She gave a serene smile, like she was already proud of them and knew they'd succeed.
"Anyway, since you're all classmates, you should all get to know each other, right?" She grinned as she got up and started passing papers around. Oh no. An icebreaker. Link was sure he'd managed to avoid those. "We'll be playing People Bingo!"
Link took the paper from her. On it were various squares with things like "Has an unusual hair color", "Is from another state", and "likes Butterscotch Cinnamon pie" in them.
"The goal of the game is to fill each square with someone's name! Try to avoid repeats, although I suppose you may have to repeat for the last couple… anyway, go get to know each other! And I can fill in a square, if you'd like to get to know me too!"
Sidon looked over his sheet. "Well, hey, if you need someone who can swim, I can fill that space!" Well of course he could.
"And I can play multiple instruments, if you'd like me to sign yours." Zelda smiled.
"Oh, what instruments?"
"I played the flute in middle school band, I can play a few songs on the ocarina, harp, a little guitar. Been thinking of picking up the ukulele."
"I can play the ukulele." Link said, probably the longest sentence he'd said that day.
"Oh, cool! You should teach me, if you want." Zelda gave a soft smile, and Link blushed.
"Yeah, uh, sure."
"Anyway, Link, what other squares do you fill?" Asriel asked as he got his paper back from the other two.
Link looked over the paper. Sure, he wasn't from Arizona, but most people probably weren't. He couldn't do sports, and he'd never tried Butterscotch Cinnamon pie. However, he could draw. He took the paper and put his name in the square.
Eventually, everyone had to start mingling.
The people around seemed alright. Marth, that blue-haired boy from his homeroom, filled in the "Plays an unusual sport" section, marking down that he fenced. This cute girl with wine colored hair, Kairi, -wait, wasn't she the girl Sora and Namine mentioned earlier? He hoped they'd find each other- filled in the spot saying that she'd been to the beach. A silver-haired boy, Riku, was about to fill in the beach section before he noticed Kairi had signed it. He thought for a moment before signing the "Knows someone else who goes here" segment.
As far as icebreakers went, he supposed it wasn't too bad. He didn't have to talk much, just sign papers and move on. Luckily, that took most of the class period, but Ms. Shephard called the class's attention a few minutes before the bell.
"One last thing! If you'd like some extra credit, some other teachers and I have developed a scavenger hunt around town. The due date is the end of the semester, so there's certainly no rush. Hopefully it can encourage you to get out and explore your surroundings. Come get it from my desk as you leave today!"
When the bell rang, he grabbed one with Zelda. She seemed really into the idea, and Link figured he could just do it as he went about his life. He glanced over it, and a fair amount of it was taking selfies at various locations. Wouldn't be too hard, right?
0-0-0-0-0
Peach wasn't excited about her General Science class one bit. Science was never her thing. Why did it matter to her why things worked the way they did? Then again, she was going to be a model before all of this, so it made sense why she couldn't be bothered by this.
The only thing that saved her life was the Marth was sitting next to her. It was nice to see him after being separated for two class periods, having previously had History with Mr. Shephard and Basic Math with Mr. Waluigi.
"Mr. Waluigi still gives me the creeps, you know?" Peach sighed as she rested her head on the counter. Each counter that extended out from the walls had four seats around them, and the two remaining ones at Peach's were empty.
Not for long.
A girl walked in, long blue hair flowing behind her. She looked regal, just like Marth. Wait, she looked nearly exactly like Marth. Was this his cousin? Damn, they were almost identical.
"Hey, Lucina!" Marth waved her over, and she gave a slight smile before heading over. "Peach, this is my cousin that I was talking about earlier. Lucina, this is Peach; she's in my homeroom."
Lucina sat down across from her and extended her hand. "Pleasure to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too!" Peach grinned. "So, are you sure you're just cousin's and not twins separated at birth?"
Lucina and Marth looked at each other and sighed. "Yeah, at least in this world," Marth said. "Things are different in our homeworld."
Peach didn't pry, no matter how much she wanted to. She knew that a lot of people didn't have the mostly pleasant, fun-filled backstory that she had. The whole kidnapping thing seemed harmless as Mario always came to save her.
Mario. She hadn't seen him at school yet, but apparently, he and his brother Luigi were here. They seemed alright, but a part of her didn't want to meet them, not really. She felt kind of bad, since they'd saved her life a bunch, but there were so many other people.
She'd find them later.
A couple minutes later, an adorable pink puffball floated in their fourth seat. Peach couldn't help but squeal in delight. They were so cute!
"Hi, I'm Kirby!" The pink puffball exclaimed, and oh my gosh, it was so adorable!
"Nice to meet you, Kirby! I'm Peach!" She extended a hand, and Kirby touched it with his little nub it had in place of an arm.
"This whole thing is so weird, but apparently I can float while I'm here, so that's pretty cool, I guess!" He (at least, Peach had a feeling Kirby was a he, and she was typically right at guessing normal animal's genders, so maybe that applied) seemed confused about everything, but amused at the same time.
Marth chuckled a little. "Isn't it weird being so small?"
Kirby laughed. "Well, I was already pretty short, so it didn't change much!"
The four of them talked a bit about how different everything was before the teacher, a yellow dinosaur woman in a lab coat, called attention to the class. "U-uh, hello students! I'm Dr. Alphys. Today, we'll be doing a super simple lab in order to show you how labs will be structured!" She started passing around paper, one at each station. Lucina was the one to read first in their groups.
"All of the materials will be located in the center of the room. Usually, we'd, uh, have a learning section before, but this is just to show how labs work. We'll learn the concepts behind it later." Strange, but okay. If it meant there wasn't going to be a lecture, Peach was fine with it.
Lucina pushed the paper to the center of the counter. "Okay, so we need a styrofoam plate filled with milk, a small cup of dish soap, a Q-Tip, and a couple different colors of food coloring." She smiled a bit. "I think we did this lab back in Seattle, Marth. Anyway, I can get the milk if someone else wants to get the other stuff."
Peach got up, since she was closest to the end. She filled the small cup, like the kind you get ketchup in, with the dish soap, then grabbed a Q-Tip and two small bottles of food coloring (pink and purple, because of course). On her way back, she bumped into the cute skater boy, whose name (she was pretty sure) was Link. He muttered a quick sorry, and Peach gave him a wink before walking back to her group. She glanced back, and he seemed frozen for a sec before continuing on his way.
"Alright, cool. Now, we need to put a few drops of food coloring into the milk in random spots." Lucina said.
Peach took the pink bottle, and Marth took the purple. Kirby floated up to stand on the table and watched as they put in the drops. "Nice colors!"
"Thank you!" Peach smiled. Kirby was such a cute little puffball.
"Next, we need to take the Q-Tip, dip it in the soap, and then put it in the middle of the plate. Marth, you wanna do that?"
He shrugged, and when he did, the milk seemed to be repelled, causing the food coloring to move like art.
"Whoa, that's cool!" Kirby grinned. "It's super pretty!"
"Oh, I love this experiment. Anyway, on to the questions. Why do you think this happened?" Lucina asked.
"I don't fuckin' know." Peach laughed. "It looks cool, though."
"Something to do with the molecules hating each other, right?" Marth said, resting his head on his hand.
"Yeah, I think so. Doesn't really matter, but yanno. Honestly, if you want, I can fill the questions out. I can tell you guys are bored."
Kirby hopped up. "I'll help!"
Peach, however, took the opportunity to completely tune out of class and instead get on her tablet. She went to Social (because of course she did) and instead of private messaging someone, she decided to try her luck with the chatrooms. The first one showed two people, so Peach figured she'd join in. After all, she'd meet some new people, right?
[Console] Welcome Peach T to the chat!
Daisy S PEACH
Rosalina T Oh, hey, you're the girl Daisy was talking about, right?
Peach T DAISY
Peach T oh yeah, she's my cousin lol
[Console] Welcome Stahl B to the chat!
Peach T hi there!
Stahl B Hello! What classes are you guys in?
Daisy S Art class with Mina. I'm like 90% sure she's blazed off her ass.
Rosalina T Science
Peach T wait with alphys?
Rosalina T Yeah
Stahl B Me too!
Peach looked around, and sure enough, a boy with greenish hair was waving at her from a few tables away, and the pastel emo chick gave a faint smile from the station across from him. She waved at both of them, then turned to her tablet.
Stahl B The lab was super quick lol
Peach T it was
[Console] Welcome Demyx H to the chat!
[Console] Welcome Samus A to the chat!
[Console] Welcome Tifa L to the chat!
Stahl B Welcome, guys!
Samus A so is this for school only stuff or can we talk about other stuff too?
[Console] Welcome Aqua C to the chat!
Daisy S i think it's for whatever we want?
Aqua C Hello!
Tifa L hi guys
[Console] Welcome Pit I to the chat!
[Console] Welcome Susie J to the chat!
Susie J ****
[Console] Please do not swear! If you think this was an error, PM the console!
Susie J thats dumb
[Console] Say goodbye to Susie J!
Aqua C Why would someone just… get on and swear?
Stahl B It happens everywhere.
[Console] Welcome Roy E to the chat!
Roy E Hey, guys :D
[Console] Welcome Mackenzie L to the chat!
Peach T have you guys looked at what kind of stuff is gonna be in the cafeteria? i heard its buffet stuff that rotates daily.
Aqua C Really? That's awesome!
Stahl B i love buffets! I also saw something about premade sandwiches and stuff.
Daisy S Three words: Founatin. Cherry. Coke.
Daisy S fountain*
Rosalina T ooooooo
Roy E Honestly i'm a slut for cherry cock
Roy E Coke* oml
Daisy S BAHAHAAHAHA
Samus A Freudian slip?
Peach T thats the guy who wanted to sleep with his mom right?
Demyx H omg what?
[Console] Welcome Riku Y to the chat!
Riku Y What the **** did I walk in to?
[Console] Please do not swear! If you think this was an error, PM the console!
Riku Y brb messaging console because that's the only correct response to this.
[Console] Welcome Marth L to the chat!
Roy E marth HELP
Marth laughed a little next to her. "I mean, he's a slut for cock too." He bit his lip, stifling his laughter. "Sorry, that was crude."
Peach smirked and pulled out another strawberry sucker. "Looks like I have some competition, hmm?" She popped it into her mouth, being overly flirty. She was well aware of other's perceptions of her, and instead of being offended, she played it up instead.
Marth blushed and turned back to his screen. Satisfied with his reaction, Peach went back to her own.
Daisy S i screenshotted it, you're dunzo
Roy E you suck
[Console] Welcome Ike G to the chat!
Marth L Apparently, you're the one who sucks
Demyx H OOOOOOOOOH
Daisy S djshfldahskjd
Ike G he's right you know
Peach T oi, i suck too :(
Riku Y again, what the actual **** is happening?
[Console] Please do not swear! If you think this was an error, PM the console!
Aqua C Y'all realize that this is an official school chat, so the teachers can probably see, right?
Peach T …
Demyx H crap
Tifa L honestly that's why i've been so quiet
Stahl B I always keep it PG, gotta be that good farmer boio
Roy E oh god the teachers saw my **** up
[Console] Please do not swear! If you think this was an error, PM the console!
Demyx H wait why isn't slut in the filter?
Peach T oh my god u right
[Console] Welcome Link E to the chat!
[Console] Welcome Mipha S to the chat!
Mipha S Oh, hey Link, apparently we know each other! I heard you met my brother, he said you were cool.
Link E nice
Stahl B hey, you're that guy from gym! Why didn't you join me in class?
Link E *shrug*
Rosalina T Our table was already full…
Stahl B oh, right
[Console] Welcome Axel R to the chat!
Axel R let's **** shome **** up!
[Console] Please do not swear! If you think this was an error, PM the console!
Axel R that's dumb
Samus A Agreed. They shouldn't restrict our freedom of speech.
Aqua C It's a private school though?
Samus A …
Ike G can we vote to remove the filter?
Riku Y absolute support
Axel R yeah **** this noise
[Console] Please do not swear! If you think this was an error, PM the console!
Daisy S fvck
Daisy S there
Demyx H my hero
Axel R Please worship our lord and savior, Daisy the Fvck God.
Daisy S honestly that would be Peach's title but yanno
Peach T you know it ;)
Axel R *raises eyebrows* you'll have to demonstrate
Peach wasn't entirely sure how to respond, mostly because she was sitting next to a guy she already liked. But hey, there was a good chance that she may not see everyone after the year was over. Why shut down an opportunity so quickly?
Peach T you'll have to come find me sometime ;)
And with that, she'd decided she'd had enough of the group chat. Part of her hated to leave so early, but the chance to tease a guy like that was too tempting to pass up. She could get on later if she wanted to. Besides, there was a cutie to talk to right next to her (and his equally attractive cousin).
0-0-0-0-0
Samus Aran had never stayed in one place too long. When Dad said they'd be moving to Arizona, she'd thought nothing of it. There was an Air Force base (Samus had already forgotten the name; there were so many in her life that she stopped keeping track) close to where their school was, and she'd be able to stay all year. Then, once she graduated, she too could join the Air Force.
That was, until she found out about her other life.
Her mother in this universe was dead. Samus watched her get shot when she was three.
To know that the same thing had happened in her other life… it pissed her off to no end. And now she was expected to sit down and learn math? Bullshit. Absolute bullshit. She needed to go for a run.
Ridley had killed her parents. Now, Ridley could do so much harm here. After all, whatever that Crazy Hand magic had done seemed to make the real world turn a blind eye to his manipulative, narcissistic nature.
He was going to pay.
Still, like the dutiful student she was, she went to class. It was unlikely that they'd throw her out, considering her skills both in this world and the other, but she didn't want to deal with the bullshit that would come with it.
When she walked into class, a large catlike humanoid floated in front of the blackboard. Was that thing her teacher? Eh, she'd already learned not to freak out. A couple students hadn't, as they audibly gasped behind her.
She adjusted her backpack, letting it hang off her shoulder as she went to a group of four desks. Three of them were already filled, one with an elf girl with long blonde hair, one with a tall (well, compared to other girls. She still paled in comparison to Samus) girl with blue hair, and the last with a girl (maybe) who appeared to be a humanoid deer. "Hey, is this seat taken?"
"No, go ahead! I'm Zelda, by the way." The blonde smiled and extended her hand.
"Samus. Nice to meet you," She said curtly, giving Zelda's hand a firm shake. The girl seemed a little prissy, but honestly, not as bad as some people here. Like this girl in her History class, Peach. Ugh, what an actual princess. How could anyone know what had happened in their own worlds and still be so goddamn happy?
"I'm Aqua, it's good to meet you." She also extended her hand, and then another firm handshake. "Wow, that's a nice shake."
"Thanks. Dad taught me that it impresses the right kind of people." At least she had a dad in this universe. She couldn't imagine what it was like in her old life, watching them both die. She couldn't think about that now. She looked over to the deer girl. "And how about you?"
"Oh, uh, I'm Noelle. I'm not comfortable with handshakes right now." She gave a weak smile, and Samus returned it.
"Must be rough, being in a completely different body." Of course, Samus wasn't completely human, but she looked the part. Noelle… didn't.
Noelle just nodded, and a silence fell over the table. It was soon interrupted by the teacher addressing the class.
"Good morning, students. You may call me Mr. Mewtwo. I will be your Advanced Math teacher. Your syllabus, textbook, and assignments will all be on your tablet, as I would rather not waste paper. However, you will be turning your homework in on paper so I can see that you're doing adequate work. Understood." The class murmured in agreement. "Good. Now, I don't like wasting anything, and certainly not time. This first week will be a review of concepts you should already know, based on your transcripts, and then we will move on to more complex topics. If at any point you feel like you're not prepared for this class, come talk to me so we can send you to the basic class."
Everyone at Samus's table seemed unfazed. Good, at least she wasn't surrounded by dumbasses.
"I will be going over the topics briefly to get your minds going, and then you'll do the assignment. You may work in your group, but make sure you understand the concepts individually. You may also use your tablet to access the textbook, but no other devices that can access the internet. Understood."
Mr. Mewtwo then proceeded to go over the first section. It was basic graphing stuff that she'd learned her sophomore year, nothing that she didn't already know. Still, the reminder was nice. His lecture ended after about ten minutes, and then their group got to work. Luckily, Noelle put her tablet so that they could both see the assignment, so Samus logged onto the chatroom and checked it every so often. Nothing seemed particularly interesting, though she did chuckle a bit at Roy's fuck up, but the rest just seemed like small talk and mindless flirting.
Their group, after every few problems, would check their answers against each other. Everyone seemed to be on the right path, which relieved Samus. She hadn't forgotten everything. Aqua and Zelda chatted, seemingly getting along well. Samus and Noelle both kept to themselves.
After they finished their assignments and turned them in, Mr. Mewtwo checked their work (surprisingly quickly, though he did seem to be a psychic), and upon confirming that they'd done everything right, dismissed them early. It was only a few minutes, but it was still nice to walk around for a bit.
"So, guys, are you enjoying it here?" Zelda asked.
"Yeah, I am! I've met a lot of really nice people." Aqua grinned, turning around to walk backwards and face the group. "And it's weird, but I can't wait to try out my new skills, you know?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm pumped about that!" Samus smiled a little. After all, plasma guns and the like seemed badass. She could fuck up some bad guys with those.
Noelle seemed a little more reserved. "I mean, I like a lot of things about it, but some parts…"
"Hey, it's only temporary, right?" Aqua gave her a weak smile. "I know that doesn't help much, but…"
"Yeah, I know. If I can get through the day, I think I'll be fine." Noelle smiled a little. "Or, at least, better."
"That's good." Zelda also smiled. "Hey, would you guys like to sit with me at lunch?"
Aqua frowned a bit. "Sorry, I'm meeting up with a couple friends that I knew in my old life. If you don't mind, maybe I could bring them over?"
"Oh, sure, that's cool!"
"And I think I'm going to try and find this girl I talked to earlier. She, uhh, seems like needs a friend." Noelle seemed to blush a little, but it was hard to tell underneath her fur.
Zelda smiled again. "That's good! Well, you two are free to come sit with us, if you want. Samus, what about you?"
Samus had planned on eating her lunch then going for a quick jog through the halls, but eh, may as well sit with people while she ate. Even if she didn't talk much, having people around her was comforting. And besides, Zelda seemed chill enough. "Sure, why not."
Soon enough, the bell rang, and the group went to the cafeteria. Aqua found her friends almost immediately, and waved the group a quick goodbye. Noelle seemed to find her girl, a purple dinosaur, and then it was just the two of them. "So, who are we looking for?"
"Well, my friend Link, mainly, but I've met a few people." Zelda scanned the room. "Let's get our food first, since I don't think he's here yet." She then went up to the lunch line, and because Samus had nothing better to do, she followed. There were three buffet lines, but it looked like they had the same food, so they got in the shortest line. The food all looked delicious! It looked like all the best stuff from Denny's, both lunch and breakfast. She grabbed herself a waffle, and then plenty of bacon and sausage.
After she got her food, she followed Zelda to one of the long tables. The back half was a long booth, while the front was a normal set of seats, two at each table. Zelda sat on the booth side, and Samus sat across from her. The cafeteria was loud, but not any worse than any public school. While Samus ate her food, Zelda kept looking around, barely picking at her salad.
"Dude, I know you're looking for your friend, but you need to eat," Samus said in between bites of waffle.
Zelda frowned slightly. "I know, but…" Her eyes lit up, and she waved to someone. Samus turned around and saw a blue-clad blonde heading over to their table, tray of food already in his arms. He sat down next to her, smiling just a bit. "Link, this is my friend Samus from Advanced Math. Samus, this is my friend Link, from homeroom, and apparently, our other lives."
Friend was a strong word for only having known each other for an hour, but Samus wasn't going to say something and be rude. She extended her hand. "Nice to meet you, Link."
He shook her hand with a firm grip, nodding in what she assumed to be agreement. "Quiet type, I assume?" Samus asked. He nodded again.
Zelda started telling him about her classes, and Link just sat there and listened. He didn't seem to mind, though, instead just being a quiet listener.
"Man, it's a shame the food here is so good," Samus said after a while. "I'm joining the Air Force right after I graduate, so I'm going from this to… that." She chuckled a little.
"I was thinking of joining the military." Link shrugged.
"Oh, really?" Samus quirked an eyebrow.
He shrugged. "Don't have much else to do with life."
Zelda gave a slight frown, while Samus just shrugged. "It's not an easy decision, but if it's what works for you, go for it."
Link gave another small smile and nodded.
"Hey, do you mind if we sit here?" A girl asked as she sat down next to Samus. Ugh, it was Peach. Just great.
Just Peachy.
Samus hated herself for that joke.
"No, go ahead!" Zelda smiled. Of course. Oh well, at least she meant well.
"Thanks! I'm Peach, by the way!" She smiled as her two friends sat at the table next to them.
"Hi, I'm Daisy!" The redhead in the yellow dress said. Gods, her voice was like nails on a chalkboard. Samus gave a glance to Link, who seemed equally as bothered.
The other blonde gave a slight wave. "Rosalina." She then started staring off into space.
Zelda, seemingly oblivious to her companions' flights, began talking to them. Samus, at least, could tune them out, but poor Link was surrounded by the chatty girls. He did his best to shrink back, but it didn't help that Daisy was essentially squishing him to get closer to the conversation. Poor thing.
"Hello, ladies. Are these seats taken?" Samus glanced over to see two blue-haired boys, a blue-haired girl who looked nearly identical to the shorter boy, and a redheaded boy all stood near the new girls.
Peach's eyes lit up instantly. "Of course they're not, Marth! Sit down!"
Ah, cute boys. The best way to distract vapid valley girls. Though, she had to admit, the taller of the blue-haired guys was actually pretty handsome. It wasn't like she intended to pursue a relationship, given the fact that she was going from here to basic at the end of the year, but admittedly, having someone to look at was nice. She was pretty sure he was in Advanced Math with her, so that was nice.
But Samus had other things on her mind, much more pressing than handsome boys or vapid girls.
She was planning her revenge.
0-0-0-0-0
When Demyx Harper got his invitation, his mother insisted he go. It was a good opportunity, get out of the Florida shithole he and his four younger siblings lived in. She didn't even notice that it was addressed to Demyx, and not his dead name.
He honestly wasn't sure why he was invited. He certainly wasn't the smartest, and since he'd started on testosterone, he couldn't participate in swim team anymore. None of his friends seemed to know why, but he just rolled with it.
At the opening ceremony, when his body transformed, he nearly cried. Even if it was temporary, being in the right body just made him so happy. For once, he didn't want to leave school.
Learning that he was once a villain tore that right back down. All his life, he'd tried to be good to do his momma proud, but in the other life… where had he gone wrong? A part of him didn't want to know, so he left that section of his tablet unopened.
He tried to make friends with people, but a lot of them were stuck in their own heads. Didn't they know that talking to people was, like, the best way to help? The first real friend that stuck was this kid Sora, apparently a hero from his own world. Demyx wasn't sure why Sora would want to be his friend, but then Sora piped in with a "Well, you're here, so that must mean there's still good in you!"
It took all his effort not to hug him right then and there.
The two twins at their table, Namine and Xion, were also from their world. Xion was part of the same organization as Demyx, but for whatever reason, wasn't categorized as a villain. They seemed nice, but Namine was quiet and Xion… well, she was sweet, but she started crying at every little thing. Happy, sad, mad, didn't matter.
It was a stressful day, so Demyx didn't blame her.
Sora invited him to sit with them at lunch, but Demyx had a few more people he wanted to sit with. Marluxia, from his math class, who seemed remarkably straight for having pink hair; Larxene, from his history class, who was a total bitch, but at least she was funny; Luxord, also from History, who spent most of class shuffling his deck of cards; and Axel, who he hadn't met yet, but he was cute.
So, Demyx went and found them. They were at a booth in the corner of the cafeteria, and at first, Demyx was a little nervous. After all, Marluxia and Larxene were basically eating each other's faces in between rounds of whatever card game they were playing.
"Oh hey, you're Demyx, right?" Axel asked, waving him into their side of the booth. Man, he could just smell the Florida off of him. Demyx wasn't sure whether to be alarmed or comforted. "You're the only one out of our group I haven't met! I'm Axel, got it memorized?"
"Axel's a pretty cool name, my guy," Demyx said as he sat his tray full of food down.
"Thanks, I picked it myself."
Oh, wait, what? Was he… was he trans too? Demyx didn't want to be rude.
"Yeah, Lea was a dumb name. Thought I'd spice it up a bit."
"That's true for everyone at the table," Marluxia said, sitting up straighter.
"None of us accepted the identities we were born with," Larxene said. "We're all villains, fuck our old selves. We've gotta get revenge."
"Re-revenge?" Demyx asked.
Larxene scoffed and leaned forward. "Don't you get it? Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII, saw us all as unworthy. Now, we have to get back at him!" She grunted. "It's so unfair!"
Demyx didn't want to admit it, but all he wanted to do was smoke weed and hang out in the apartment complex's pool all day. School was just a reason to get cheap rent. Sure, the control over water and stuff sounded kinda cool, but really, he didn't want to fight. However, everyone was looking at him expectantly. "Uh, sure, I'm in."
"Atta boy!" Axel wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him in. "One of the cool kids, right here!"
Demyx couldn't help but laugh. "Now, if you don't mind, can I eat my food?"
Axel let go, and for a brief moment, Demyx was disappointed. Something about Axel was just… pleasantly warm. He seemed much better than the others, more kind. Luxord, he supposed, was nice too, but he seemed more interested in playing games with people. Larxene… well, she was a bitch. Hot, but a bitch. And Marluxia, well, Demyx really didn't know how to feel about him.
But this is where he belonged. These were his people.
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A/N: Oh my god, that was a long chapter. Fun fact, the original idea for this was that Zelda started a group chat where she and her friends could remind each other about tests and homework and stuff, but Peach decided to add everyone she knows, and shit gets wild. I do intend to have chatroom sections because it's a fun way for characters to meet if they don't have classes together.
Speaking of, I have a spreadsheet with everyone's classes mapped out. 57 students so far, many of which I'm not sure if they'll make a direct appearance. I just like having everything mapped out, just in case. There's six full periods in a day, plus lunch, homeroom, and arena time. There also may be clubs, not sure.
The pace will likely pick up after the next few chapters. Characters are still meeting each other, so I want to show that. Speaking of characters, hooboy, time for last name explanations! There were a lot this chapter due to the chatroom.
Last Name Explanations:
Sidon and Mipha Sturgeon (The Legend of Zelda): Come on, they're literally fish. How could I not?
Lucina Lowell (Fire Emblem): Same as Marth, since I made the cousins. Also, the alliteration fits nicely.
Rosalina Thebe (Super Mario Brothers): I don't think it's a real last name, but fuck it. It's a star.
Samus Aran (Metroid): Canon
Tifa Lockheart (Final Fantasy): Canon
Aqua Conway (Kingdom Hearts): I'm pretty sure it's after a river in the UK. Can't find the exact source, but it looks nice, no?
Pit Icarus (Kid Icarus): I got lazy
Roy Eliwood (Fire Emblem): Eliwood is his dad. I got lazy. Too many characters.
Mackenzie Little (Punch Out): … you know I had to. It was too easy. Little Mac isn't just a nickname, it's his actual name.
Demyx Harper (Kingdom Hearts): Harper is a musical last name, he's into music, it fits. I also just like the name.
Ike Gawain (Fire Emblem): It's his dad's former name, it looks like. I haven't actually played the game, okay?
Axel Reese (Kingdom Hearts): I honestly can't find it anymore. Just accept it, K? Probably something with fire, I can't remember.
Oh my Gods, honestly, why did I give everyone last names? (Cause I'm a slut for realism, duh). Anyway, off to write the next chapter, see you soon!
Sorry for the late upload, btw! Was out of town with no wifi!